U.S. Data

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U.S. Data

More than 40 million people living in the United States—whether as naturalized citizen, legal permanent resident, temporary resident, or unauthorized immigrant—were born in another country, representing 13 percent of the U.S. population. Immigration to the United States has ebbed and flowed throughout history, peaking at nearly 15 percent of the population in 1890 and plummeting to 5 percent in 1970. The data-rich research offered here traces the U.S. immigrant population by size, educational and workforce characteristics, English language proficiency, and more.

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Interested in information on annual naturalization trends, illegal immigration, the geographical distribution of immigrants in the United States, current and historical shares, and a host of other topics? MPI's Jeanne Batalova and Alicia Lee have assembled the latest, most interesting data on immigrants and immigration into one easy-to-use resource.

There were more than 46 million nonimmigrant (temporary) admissions to the United States in 2010, the highest number in nearly three decades. MPI's Alicia Lee and Jeanne Batalova outline the definition of nonimmigrants and take a detailed look at admissions data and data limitations.

Comprising only a small share of all immigrants in the United States, the foreign born from Taiwan seem to embody the very spirit of the Asian Tiger. As of 2010, Taiwanese immigrants exhibited extremely high levels of educational attainment; a notable tendency toward homeownership; and elevated rates of employment in management, business, information technology, and certain other professional, science, and engineering fields compared to the foreign-born population overall.

From rather humble beginnings, the Chinese immigrant population in the United States has grown steadily since the 1960s to reach about 1.8 million in 2010. Compared to the foreign born overall, Chinese immigrants report higher levels of educational attainment, are less likely to live in households with an annual income below the poverty line, and are substantially more likely to have naturalized as U.S. citizens.

More than 1 million people became legal permanent residents (LPRs) in the United States in 2010. Nearly two-thirds of new LPRs are immigrants with family ties in the United States, report MPI’s Carola Balbuena and Jeanne Batalova in this updated look at the latest statistics on legal immigration.

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Recent Activity

This book reflects the effort of the Transatlantic Council on Migration to map how profound demographic change is likely to affect the size and character of global migration flows; and how governments can shape immigration policy in a world increasingly attuned to the hunt for talent.

This exploratory study provides an unprecedented assessment of the “brain-waste” phenomenon in the United States—a serious waste of human capital resulting from the unemployment or underemployment of highly skilled college-educated immigrants.

This pocket guide compiles some of the most credible, accessible, and user-friendly government and non-governmental data sources pertaining to U.S. and international migration. The guide also includes additional links to relevant organizations, programs, research, and deliverables, along with a glossary of frequently used immigration terms.

This fact sheet provides a demographic portrait of foreign-born veterans of the U.S. armed forces. By analyzing data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 American Community Survey, this fact sheet examines foreign-born veterans' countries of origin, states of residence, and periods of service.

This report examines the large presence of unauthorized and mixed-status families, and the growing size of the second generation and its concerns within Los Angeles County and in California, drawing comparisons to broader national demographic trends and rationales for immigrant integration.

Over 100 million migrants live in the more developed regions of the world, including nine million in Northern Europe, 22 million in Western Europe and 38 million in the United States. This report takes a closer look at the challenges of immigration for Western countries.

This report offers a series of original charts that depict the characteristics of recent immigrants who are representative of those likely to be affected by the proposed merit-based points system for selecting permanent immigrants to the United States.

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State Immigration Data Profiles

Want the latest facts and data on immigrants in the United States? Search U.S. Census data on U.S. immigrants and the native born nationally and by state based on demographic, language and education, workforce, and income indicators.

Want the latest estimates and characteristics of unauthorized immigrants in the United States, including those potentially eligible for relief from deportation? Use this innovative data tool to get population estimates and much more—including countries of origin, recency of arrival, educational enrollment and attainment, industries of employment, incomes, English proficiency, and health care coverage—at the national level, by state, and for top counties.